I and my office are taking a break from social media. It might be for a few weeks. It might be for longer. It might be permanent. We will be evaluating how best to communicate with the broader community.
I am calling this pause because of the appalling abuse, most of it from anonymous cowards,...
By Erin Pearson
Victoria will become the first Australian state or territory to ban the use of Nazi symbols including the swastika as part of landmark reform aimed at boosting human rights protections.
Legislation expected to be passed early next year willmake the public display of...
The Age | ‘I did not plant the slug’: Council hits back at I Cook Foods owner in shutdown inquiry
Sep 1, 2021
By Paul Sakkal
The council official accused of editing an image of a slug to frame a food company has denied doctoring the photograph, as her council attacked the credibility of the Dandenong food supplier’s owner.
Greater Dandenong Council chief executive John Bennie and two council...
The use of proof of vaccination to permit those fully inoculated against COVID-19 to socialise locally and travel widely is the potential cause of community concern and unrest.
The Reason Party – a party based on civil liberty - acknowledges and shares some of the disquiet about privacy,...
The Problems with the Anti-lockdown Protests
Aug 23, 2021
Protest and civil disobedience are rights that have often been pivotal to progress and justice the world over throughout history.
Like all rights, they come with responsibilities.
The fundamental ethical constraint on protest is that it ought not trample the rights and safety of innocent...
By Barbara Minchinton
he Victorian Government is planning to decriminalise sex work, as New South Wales has already done. Victoria’s current laws provide for legal brothels, but the licensing regulations and some brothel owners’ drive for profits have resulted in a two tier system where...
Staff Writer
As the COVID crisis worsens in NSW and Victoria and live events continue to be wiped out, politicians are putting pressure on the government to provide financial support to the music sector.
...
Victorian MP Fiona Patten, Leader of Reason, has today called for the State...
Star Observer | Decriminalising Sex Work: A Victorian Gay Male Sex Worker’s Point of View
Aug 18, 2021
By Max Zhou
What if hairdressers were regulated like sex workers are in Victoria right now?
A simple appointment at the barber is both legal and as normal as it gets. But a similar type of appointment with a self-employed, independent sex worker is illegal if it occurs at the sex...
Leader of Reason, Fiona Patten, has called for an immediate reintroduction of the Live Music Venues Program which provided $15m in cash to our much-loved venues.
Ms Patten said the business support for our live music venues is inadequate, strangled in red tape and will not be enough to save the...
The Guardian | Bill decriminalising sex work to be tabled in Victorian parliament by year’s end
Aug 13, 2021
Calla Wahlquist
Minister says law would give sex workers same rights as ‘any other worker’ and bring state in line with NSW and NT
Legislation to decriminalise sex work and provide sex workers with standard workplace rights and protections will be introduced to the Victorian parliament by...